St Bartholomew’s Church, Birmingham

St Bartholomew’s Church once stood on Masshouse Lane in Digbeth, Birmingham. The land was given by John Jennens in 1687, and the building was designed by William and David Hiorne. It opened in 1749 as a chapel of ease to St Martin in the Bull Ring. The church was enlarged between 1840 and 1841, and it became a parish church in 1847. A restoration took place in 1893 at a cost of £800. The church’s organ was installed in 1806 by George Pike England. Part of its parish was used in 1869 to create St Gabriel’s Church in Deritend. The church closed in 1937, suffered damage in an air raid in 1942, and was demolished in 1943. Some of its parish was later assigned to Bishop Ryder Church. Today the site is empty, but the memory remains of a church that served Birmingham for nearly two centuries. The organ’s specification survives in the National Pipe Organ Register. The Hiorne brothers’ design shaped a place where generations gathered. The church’s story reflects the growth and change of the city around it.